S1E168 - Essential Apple Podcast 168: Working from home special

Recorded 22nd March 2020

Apple launch and all new MacBook Air, iPad Pros with LiDAR, a keyboard with backlighting and trackpad for the new and previous gen iPad Pros, updated MacMini with more storage, new iPhone cases and watch straps. iOS 13.4 got a demo from Craig Federighi and more. BUT before we get to that I am joined by special guests Glenn Fleishman (author, journalist, 2x Jeopardy champion and more) and Pete Knowlton (from Ghostery) and we get led down a path of talking about WFH, COVID-19, and a whole load of associated matters.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

Glenn’s book is completely FREE and can be downloaded here
You can get Ghostery Midnight free for 3 months with the coupon code ‘workathome’
Steve over at Geeks Corner is having an Apple Watch Strap giveaway… Why not pop on over and enter and get the chance to win an AppleWatch strap of your choice?
I didn’t mention this on the show but Serif have made all their Affinity apps on Mac/PC and iOS available on a 3 MONTH free trial and reduced the priced by 50%… If you were even remotely interested now is the time to try and buy!

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

On this week’s show:

GLENN FLEISHMAN

Glenn Fleishman is a veteran technology writer who has contributed to dozens of publications across his career, including Macworld, Fast Company, and Increment. He has also written dozens of editions of books in the Take Control series. He is currently building 100 tiny type museums full of real printing artifacts.
Glenn’s FREE Take Control of Working from Home Temporarily book
Glenn’s Tiny Type Museum)
@GlennF on Twitter

PETE KNOWLTON

Visit www.ghostery.com
Go to cliqz.com to check out their excellent privacy focussed browser
Get Ghostery Midnight here and use coupon code workathome for a 3 month subscription for free
@Ghostery on the Twitter

APPLE

New MacBook Air has more to love and is now just $999 – Apple
Apple unveils new iPad Pro with breakthrough LiDAR Scanner and brings trackpad support to iPadOS – Apple
- Interesting comment from Benedict Evans on Twitter
  “Apple’s investment in AR is really interesting to watch. An actual LIDAR scanner in the iPad (and presumable the next iPhone) purely for AR and 3D creation. Given limited use cases today, it seems pretty obvious this is about trying to seed creation ahead of a pair of glasses.”
Craig Federighi shows off new iPad Pro in video from Apple Campus – Apple Magazine
Here’s how the iPad’s new trackpad actually works – The Verge
Mac Rumors YouTube overview of the new iPad, Keyboard, and Macs – YouTube
Apple website banner now says retail stores are closed ‘until further notice’ – 9to5 Mac
People Who Left Devices at Apple Stores for Repair Can’t Get Them Until Stores Reopen — MacRumors
Apple is limiting online iPhone purchases — Seeking Alpha

NEMO’S HARDWARE STORE

Nemo will be back as soon as the trucks can get to him…

Essential Apple Recommended Services:

Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
Sudo – get up to 9 “avatars” with email addresses, phone numbers and more to mask your online identity. Free for the first year and priced from $0.99 US / £2.50 UK per month thereafter…
ProtonMail – end to end encrypted, open source, based in Switzerland. Prices start from FREE… what more can you ask?
ProtonVPN – a VPN to go with it perhaps? Prices also starting from nothing!
Comparitech DNS Leak Test – simple to use and understand VPN leak test.
Fake Name Generator – so much more than names! Create whole identities (for free) with all the information you could ever need.
Wire – free for personal use, open source and end to end encryted messenger and VoIP.
Pinecast – a fabulous podcast hosting service with costs that start from nothing.

Essential Apple is not affiliated with or paid to promote any of these services… We recommend services that we use ourselves and feel are either unique or outstanding in their field, or in some cases are just the best value for money in our opinion.

Social Media and Slack

You can follow us on:

Twitter / Slack / EssentialApple.com / Spotify / Soundcloud / YouTube / Facebook / Pinecast

Also a big SHOUT OUT to the members of the Slack room without whom we wouldn’t have half the stories we actually do – we thank you all for your contributions and engagement.
You can always help us out with a few pennies by using our Amazon Affiliate Link so we get a tiny kickback on anything you buy after using it.
If you really like the show that much and would like to make a regular donation then please consider joining our Patreon or using the Pinecast Tips Jar (which accepts one off or regular donations)
And a HUGE thank you to the patrons who already do.